Sunday, May 11, 2014

My Secret Fantasies By Joanne Rock Review

Blurb:
Joanne Rock�s MY SECRET FANTASIES is her second �Forbidden Fantasies� release for Harlequin�s Blaze miniseries. MY DOUBLE LIFE (Harlequin Blaze 5/13), her first, is a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award nominee. Both books are told from a first-person heroine perspective, while the hero�s point of view remains in the more traditional third person. We fall in love with the hero right along with the heroine! The heroes of the two books are brothers, but the stories read well as stand-alones.

Fantasy come to life...
All I wanted was to escape the media frenzy I left behind in L.A. and open a cute little shop on the Sonoma Coast. Simple, right? But Damien Fraser�the hunky property owner�isn�t exactly thrilled about my reality-TV-star status. Still, I�m pretty sure that all he needs is a little creative convincing...and I�ve learned I can be very creative.
I started writing a naughty novel, and with every sexy scene I write, things between me and Damien get really hot. Now the hero in my book is starting to look more and more like Damien, and I�m well on my way to becoming my brazen sexpot heroine. But when my real life and my fictional life collide, my fantasies just might cost me all of my dreams....

Excerpt:
�.So when the door of the oversized pickup opened with a squeak, I looked.
And saw the hottest guy ever emerge.
Now, maybe it was the heat that seemed to spotlight this hunky slab of muscle and manhood as he stood beside the open door of the truck. He glistened with sweat despite a temperature that probably only reached the mid sixties. He took the tail of a well-worn t-shirt and used it to mop his forehead.
In that moment, his abs were exposed to my dazed, spellbound eye. He was pin-up sexy. Lean and taut, he looked like he�d pulled about two million inverted push-ups to achieve so much delicious definition in that six-pack. Better yet, he was tanned bronze and I felt like I�d been given a VIP pass to the hottest show on earth.
What a gift in an otherwise hellacious day. My heroine Shaelynn couldn�t have done any better.
�Are you Miranda Cortland?�
I shook my head to clear it of fantasies that grew more explicit by the minute. The demi-god across the road did not just talk to me.
I realized I�d stopped to stare and felt just the slightest twinge of embarrassment to be caught in the act.
Giving him a lopsided smile, I told myself to get moving. Then realized he�d somehow known my name.
�Excuse me?� I had to shout since two cars barreled by in either direction.
�Are you Miranda?� he asked, his deep voice carrying easily over the distance. He slammed his door shut and jogged closer.
To me.
I blinked. Confused. Dry-mouthed.
Because now that I saw the guy�s face, he was a whole lot more than just hot abs. Streaked with sweat and a light coating of dust, he looked like a local laborer in his t-shirt and jeans. Although- knowing good clothes when I saw them from years of shopping vintage- I realized he wore very good clothes. Those boots and jeans were both out of my price range.
�Lady, are you okay?� He was now just a few feet away.
Hazel eyes narrowed in concern, he stood a good six inches taller than me. His dark hair was close cropped and matched the dark stubble sprinkled along his jaw. Wicked cheekbones made him look a bit Native American. A prominent blade of a nose and full lips only added to his appeal.
I remembered the words I�d written to describe the hero of my book. An arresting face. Strong. Handsome.
�I�m fine,� I said with a bit too much enthusiasm. What I meant to say, actually, is �you�re fine.� But he stared at me like I might have mental health issues, so I struggled to pull myself out of the sexy-man-induced delirium. He looked like the hero I�d dreamed up before I even laid eyes on this guy. �That is, I broke down a few miles back, but I don�t think I�m far from my destination.�
Belatedly, I realized I should have asked to borrow his cell phone. Or truck. Or his body. Then again, maybe I�d been spending too much time daydreaming up plot points for my sexy secret novel�

About the Author:
Joanne Rock fell in love with reading at a young age and stayed out of trouble- mostly- as a teen thanks to long stints at her local library where she routinely checked out as many books as a bicycle basket would carry. She still pronounces all the names of the Greek gods incorrectly because she learned them through reading- a small price to pay for the vast amount of knowledge she gained from books! She started writing when the voices in her head kept her awake at night, demanding she tell their stories. A successful romance author and former Golden Heart winner, she�s penned dozens of books for a variety of Harlequin series and has been nominated for the prestigious RITA award three times. Her work is reprinted around the globe and has been translated into twenty different languages. When she�s not reading or writing, she�s cheering on her three sons in sporting endeavors of every variety.

My Review:
I loved this cover, because it had a pool table on it. I liked how the author chose to have Miranda write a sexy novel. It was like a book in a book. Damien was a hot handyman that could fix anything, including Miranda's love life. I really enjoyed how they went back and forth as they learned to get along. I also really enjoyed that this is a harlequin novel (which to me is a great company that produces great books). There was horse riding, tabloids and of course blazing scenes! I was also able to read My Double Life and Wild and Wicked by the same author. My Double Life was about Damien's Brother, and good looks run in the family. I also liked this book a lot because it made me laugh a few times. A great book is one that the reader can escape into and get lost. I liked being in Natalie's world, and was sad when party time was over and she had to go back to work. Wild and Wicked was about a woman who kidnaps her friend and hopes that she can turn him into her boyfriend! I am giving these books a 4/5 each. I was given copies to review, however all opinions are my own.